


Broken

by WinterXAssassin



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Friendship, Gen, Halo: Reach, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Science Fiction, Team as Family, Tears, this is not a happy fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 01:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18084980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterXAssassin/pseuds/WinterXAssassin
Summary: Kat's dead. She's not coming back.Her two best friends wish she was.





	Broken

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: .....owch.  
> Also look, here's me seeing a gap in canon timeline and filling it in.

That sickening, echoing _crack_.

That horrid _shlink_ of blamite passing through the air.

And Kat was falling.

 _Kat was falling_.

Before the cryptanalyst could hit the floor, the lone wolf was there, catching her. But it was too late. It was too damn late. There wasn’t a chance that her best friend was still alive. Not with that hole in the faceplate of her helmet.

Artemis thought she was screaming, but no, how could she have been, when all of the air had been stolen from her lungs? Instead, her teeth were bared, mouth open wide, in a rictus of silent agony. Not Kat. Not her dear sister.

It was as though everything was happening in slow motion. She was aware of the Phantom hovering overhead, aware of her own hand reaching for Kat’s Magnum, raising it at the Field Marshal who stood, Needle Rifle in hand, mocking them. She was aware of Jun, Carter, Emile, stepping out of cover, firing their MA37s almost blindly in their rage and their grief. She was aware of the Phantom turning, wheeling away into the night skies. She was aware of it all, and yet it felt to her that she was no longer inside her own body.

A thrill of fear suddenly shot through her; a bolt of electricity down her spine. What had caused that? The Phantom was _gone_ , following the rest of the retreating Covenant. She didn’t know _what_ it was, only that it made her feel.... an empty ache beneath her breastbone.

“Come on! Come on! Get in!”

_No._

“Let’s go, come _on_!”

_No no no no no no no no!_

Kat was still, so _still_ , and that ache under her breastbone only grew, until it was sharp like a knife, twisting into her with every breath she took. She dragged the Lieutenant Commander into the bunker, door thudding shut, and gently, so gently, laid the Spartan on the floor.

_Please... please, not my sister..._

* * *

Two days. Two days they’d been in this damn bunker. And two days she’d been here, in one corner of the room, sitting or standing near Kat’s broken body, protective, protective.

Thudding footsteps alerted her to the nearby presence of one of her teammates, and without even swinging around to see who it was, she snapped, snarled, on the defensive. “Don’t you _touch_ her.” The wolf, ever the wolf; not vicious, not angry, just hurting, grieving.

“Artemis, take it easy.” Carter. She heard the quaver in his voice, and she looked up to see him staring down at her, his helmet gone, one hand flickering to curl into a fist at his side. “You go get some rest with the others. I’ll... I won’t let anything happen to...her.” His voice caught, briefly, and she heard the whoosh of air that was him taking a steadying breath. “Promise.”

The Lieutenant hesitated, stood, took one look at her sister. So still, so unmoving. Shrugged, stepped aside, and began to walk away. Behind her, there was the shuffle, creak, as the Commander sat down. She hadn’t even crossed to the other side of the bunker when she heard a broken sob. Whirling, she saw him, head bent, and there was that funny sob again. It gave her the feeling of being punched in the gut, hearing that noise coming from him. Always so stoic, always so calm and controlled... The reality of it must have finally sunk in.

Her voice was soft, and so quiet that only he would have heard it.

 “...Commander?”

He didn’t respond.

Instinct told Artemis to move closer, and she obeyed. He was in pain, too. She couldn’t ignore it. So she tried again. “Carter?” He raised his head to look at her, and the broken expression which his features held had her pause midstride, eyes widening. He looked so... _miserable_. That was _not_ like him; not as far as she knew him, at any rate. “Hey, whoa...”

“I’m fine.” Still trying to hold it together. Still trying to be the team’s leader; their steadfast rock, especially now that their glue was gone. She could tell instantly that he was lying.

“Come on. That’s bull.” Artemis couldn’t find it within her to curse properly. She was still reeling, still numb. She shifted, sat beside him, frowned at him. _Just let me help_.

“She was my sist-....” Another broken, gasping sob. “It _hurts_.” His words were a whimper, a plaintive plea. Carter crumbled, and she caught him, held him. Their MJOLNIR clacked, creaked, as he fell into her embrace. “It hurts so much.”

He cried against her shoulder, against her armour.

* * *

She watched him, walking, picking his way outside, and cradling Kat’s body so gently, so gently.

A trio of Pelicans swooped in, slow, slow, slow. The civilians boarded the first; it wheeled into the skies and drifted away. Emile and Jun disappeared into the belly of the second; it hovered, waiting. A team of ODSTs poured out of the third, took away their broken team member.

Artemis screamed, cried, begged.

Carter held her back, whispered fiercely _I’ve got you_ , pulled her tight against him.

That Pelican soon soared out of sight, and together, together, did they board the dropship that awaited them. Hand in hand. Broken, but not defeated.


End file.
